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Agent skill

Desktop What's New Dialog

by cline in cline/cline

Guides publishing a one-time What's new dialog in the Cline desktop app: deciding if one is due, picking highlights from the changelog and editing one content file.

Apache-2.0Auto-check passedDevelopment

Install Desktop What's New Dialog

skills CLI
$ npx skills add cline/cline --skill desktop-whats-new -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install cline/cline desktop-whats-new --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/cline/cline.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/.cline/skills/desktop-whats-new .claude/skills/desktop-whats-new && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Facts

Skill name
desktop-whats-new
GitHub stars
70k
Token cost
~1.5k tokens
SKILL.md length
746 words
Files
1
Skills in repo
8
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
Apache-2.0

At a glance

Guides publishing a one-time What's new dialog in the Cline desktop app: deciding if one is due, picking highlights from the changelog and editing one content file.

  • The team wants to catch desktop users up on several recent features
  • SKILL.md covers How it works, Workflow and Gotchas
  • Calls bun, git and bunx
  • Refreshing the highlights shown under Settings → About

What it does

A catch-up dialog is the exception to the rule that individual desktop releases are not announced in the app. When enough notable features have piled up, one dialog shows them once, on the first launch after the update that carries it. Publishing one is a content change: you add an entry to `WHATS_NEW_RELEASES` in `webview/lib/whats-new-content.ts`, newest first, with a stable id, a title and three or four highlights, each holding a title, description and icon.

The dialog layout is fixed, so the agent is told not to add per-entry layouts, images or extra buttons. The only variation is a `spotlight` entry for a launch big enough to carry the dialog alone, added only when the team asks. The last seen id is kept in localStorage, fresh installs never see a catch-up, and a button under Settings → About replays the newest entry for preview. The workflow starts by checking the git history of the content file and the changelog.

When your agent uses it

  • The team wants to catch desktop users up on several recent features
  • Refreshing the highlights shown under Settings → About
  • Deciding whether a catch-up dialog is justified or the release notes are enough

Example prompts

  • “Is it time for a What's new dialog in the desktop app? Look at the changelog since the last entry.”
  • “Choose the three or four most notable highlights from the recent desktop releases and write the dialog copy.”
  • “Add the new catch-up entry and tell me how to preview it from Settings.”

Requirements

  • A checkout of the Cline repository, with commands run from its root

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit c3a4057. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

  • Tool permissions

    Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

    From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

  • Runs code

    Shell commands in SKILL.md call:

    • bun
    • git
    • bunx

    From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

  • Network

    No URLs in SKILL.md. Its commands use git and bunx, which can reach the network depending on how they are called.

    From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

  • Credentials

    Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

    From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Desktop What's New Dialog loads about 1.5k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 111 tokens; SKILL.md has 746 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~111
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~1.5k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from cline/cline at commit c3a4057, republished under its Apache-2.0 licence (© cline). 746 words, ~1,478 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/desktop-whats-new/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).
name
desktop-whats-new
description
Use when the team wants to catch desktop app users up on recent features with a one-time "What's new" dialog (apps/examples/desktop-app). Guides deciding whether a catch-up is warranted, picking the highlights from the changelog, writing tight copy, adding the entry to webview/lib/whats-new-content.ts, and previewing it from Settings → About. Not for individual releases — those only appear on the About page's release notes.

Desktop "What's new" catch-up

Use this skill when the user asks to show desktop users what's new, catch users up on recent updates, publish a what's-new modal, or refresh the highlights in Settings → About.

Working directory: run every command below from the repository root.

The desktop app ships every couple of days, so individual releases are never announced in-app; Settings → About always lists the bundled release notes. A catch-up is the exception: once enough notable features have accumulated, one dialog shows them, once, on the first launch after the update that carries it. Publishing one is a content change in a single file plus a preview, nothing else.

How it works

  • Content lives in apps/examples/desktop-app/webview/lib/whats-new-content.ts as WHATS_NEW_RELEASES, newest first. Each entry has a stable id, a title, and 3–4 highlights (title, description, lucide icon).
  • webview/lib/whats-new.ts stores the last seen id in localStorage (cline.code.whats-new.v1). The app shell (webview/app/page.tsx) shows WhatsNewDialog when the newest id differs from the stored one; closing it, or clicking "See all changes", stores the id.
  • Fresh installs never see a catch-up: completing onboarding marks the newest entry seen.
  • Settings → About has a "Show what's new" button that replays the newest entry without marking it seen. That is the preview path.
  • The dialog (webview/components/whats-new-dialog.tsx) is fixed: violet hero with an eyebrow and headline, a 2×2 grid of highlights, footer with "See all changes" and "Get Started". Do not add per-entry layout options, images, or extra buttons; keep it a content change. The one exception is a spotlight entry (currently only "connectors"): a launch big enough to carry the dialog alone, with its own body and call to action in the dialog. Only add a new spotlight when the team explicitly asks for one.

Workflow

  1. Decide whether a catch-up is warranted.
sh
git log --oneline -1 -- apps/examples/desktop-app/webview/lib/whats-new-content.ts
sed -n '1,80p' apps/examples/desktop-app/CHANGELOG.md

Read the changelog sections since the last catch-up (the first entry's id is date-prefixed; the git log above shows when it landed). A catch-up needs 3–4 features a user would change how they work for — new capabilities, not fixes or polish. If there are fewer, say so and stop; the About page already covers everything else. Never ship a catch-up for a single release or for bug fixes.

  1. Pick the highlights and draft copy. Present the draft and wait for approval before editing files.
  • Headline: 3–6 words, a headline not a sentence. Good: "Work anywhere, in parallel", "Cline now runs on Linux". Bad: "We've made a lot of improvements to the composer".
  • Highlight title: the feature name, 1–3 words ("SSH remotes", "Worktrees").
  • Highlight description: one sentence, under ~90 characters, leading with what the user can now do. No setup instructions, no caveats, no marketing adjectives. If a requirement is essential (e.g. "needs the gh CLI"), the changelog and docs carry it, not the dialog.
  • Icon: a lucide-react icon that already exists in the codebase or the lucide set (Network, GitBranchPlus, GitPullRequest, Users, Terminal, Mic, Cloud, …).
  • Order highlights by impact, top-left first.
Show full SKILL.md (261 more words)Show less
  1. Add the entry to the top of WHATS_NEW_RELEASES in apps/examples/desktop-app/webview/lib/whats-new-content.ts.
ts
{
	id: "2026-11-cloud-and-voice", // YYYY-MM-<slug>, unique, never reused or edited later
	title: "Run it in the cloud",
	highlights: [
		{ title: "Cloud sessions", description: "…", icon: Cloud },
		// 3–4 total
	],
},

Import any new icons at the top of the file. The id is what the seen-tracking compares, so changing an existing entry's id would re-show it to everyone; changing its copy would not. Keep old entries in the array; they are harmless and document history.

  1. Verify.
sh
cd apps/examples/desktop-app
bunx vitest run webview/lib/whats-new.test.ts --config vitest.config.ts   # ids unique, newest resolves
bun run typecheck

Then preview in the app. From apps/examples/desktop-app, start bun run dev:sidecar and bun run dev:web (or bun run dev for the native window), open Settings → About → "Show what's new", and check both themes (General → Dark mode). Confirm no description wraps past three lines at the default font size and the headline fits on one line at 560px. Also confirm the dialog appears on launch for a returning user: clear cline.code.whats-new.v1 from localStorage and reload.

  1. Ship it. The catch-up rides the next desktop release; nothing else is needed. Do not add a changelog bullet for the catch-up itself. If the user asks to release, hand off to the publish-desktop skill.

Gotchas

  • A catch-up shows to every existing user on their first launch after the release that carries it, including users who updated through several releases. Write for someone who has not seen anything since the previous catch-up, not just the last release.
  • Do not tie an entry to a specific version number in copy; the entry usually spans several.
  • WHATS_NEW_RELEASES[0] must be the newest entry. whats-new.test.ts checks id uniqueness but cannot know the intended order.
  • Cline Beta shares this content with stable; a catch-up added on main reaches beta on the next merge.

© cline, Apache-2.0. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

Just SKILL.md in .cline/skills/desktop-whats-new of cline/cline.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit c3a4057

Compare with similar skills

Desktop What's New Dialog next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

Desktop What's New Dialog compared with similar skills
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Desktop What's New Dialog this skillcline/cline70k—~1.5kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0
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Megaphone ReleaseKuberwastaken/megaphone170—~1.3kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Create Release Checklistsoftware-mansion/smelter734—~1.9kAutomated safety check: NotesCustom licence
ReleasingOdradekAI/bundles-forge229—~3.3kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0
Release Swiftrobinebers/openusage4.3k—~1.6kAutomated safety check: PassMIT

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Categories

Questions about Desktop What's New Dialog

What does Desktop What's New Dialog do?

Guides publishing a one-time What's new dialog in the Cline desktop app: deciding if one is due, picking highlights from the changelog and editing one content file. A catch-up dialog is the exception to the rule that individual desktop releases are not announced in the app. When enough notable features have piled up, one dialog shows them once, on the first launch after the update that carries it.

When should I use Desktop What's New Dialog?

Desktop What's New Dialog fits situations like: the team wants to catch desktop users up on several recent features; refreshing the highlights shown under Settings → About; deciding whether a catch-up dialog is justified or the release notes are enough.

How do I install Desktop What's New Dialog in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add cline/cline --skill desktop-whats-new -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (.cline/skills/desktop-whats-new in cline/cline) into .claude/skills/desktop-whats-new in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Desktop What's New Dialog in Codex?

Run `npx skills add cline/cline --skill desktop-whats-new -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (.cline/skills/desktop-whats-new in cline/cline) into .agents/skills/desktop-whats-new in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Desktop What's New Dialog in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add cline/cline --skill desktop-whats-new -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/desktop-whats-new, .gemini/skills/desktop-whats-new, .github/skills/desktop-whats-new and .opencode/skills/desktop-whats-new in your project.

What does Desktop What's New Dialog need to run?

Going by SKILL.md and its folder, Desktop What's New Dialog needs the command-line tools its instructions call (bun, git and bunx). Our summary lists: A checkout of the Cline repository, with commands run from its root.

Does Desktop What's New Dialog access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Its commands use git, which can reach the network depending on how they are called. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Desktop What's New Dialog safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.

What licence does Desktop What's New Dialog use?

Desktop What's New Dialog is published under the Apache-2.0 licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Desktop What's New Dialog use?

About 1.5k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 5.9k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.

What are the alternatives to Desktop What's New Dialog?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Desktop What's New Dialog: Herdr Pre-Release Audit (herdrdev/herdr, 43k stars), Megaphone Release (Kuberwastaken/megaphone, 170 stars), Create Release Checklist (software-mansion/smelter, 734 stars) and Releasing (OdradekAI/bundles-forge, 229 stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Desktop What's New Dialog?

cline (a GitHub organization) maintains it in cline/cline, which has 70,142 GitHub stars. The repository holds 8 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 11, 2026.

Source: cline/cline on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.